At last, N' Assembly passes N3.1tr 2009 Budget
From Azimazi Momoh Jimoh, Abuja
AFTER two months of debates, the Senate and the House of Representatives yesterday harmonised their respective figures to pass N3.102 trillion as the nation's 2009 Budget.
The budget is made up of N168.62 billion for statutory transfer; N283.65 billion for debt servicing, N1.63 trillion as recurrent (non-debt) expenditure; while the balance of N1.02 trillion was voted for capital expenditure.
The Senate, in December, passed N3.05 trillion as the 2009 budget with capital expenditure vote of N890.14 and a recurrent expenditure of N1.71 trillion. It also pegged the amount for statutory transfers at N165.72 billion while it passed N283.65 billion for debt servicing.
But the House of Representatives, in January, pegged the 2009 budgetary figure at N3.09 trillion made up of N1.02 trillion for capital expenditure vote, N1.62 trillion recurrent expenditure. The House also passed statutory transfer at N165.72 billion and N283.65 billion for debt serving.
Presenting the report of the Joint Finance Committee, the Chairman of the committee, Senator Iyiola Omisore, who is also the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, said in considering the differences that arose between the two Houses of the National Assembly in the budget processing exercise, the committee "reviewed the statutory transfers upwards in line with the increased spending since the allocations to the Universal Basic Education and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) were based on percentage of total spending."
Details of the harmonized budget as passed yesterday showed that the NDDC got N29.5 billion in addition to another N21.81 billion as arrears of its 2008 share of excess crude.
The National Judicial Council got N78 billion.
The budget also allocated N227.81 billion for the servicing of domestic debts, while N55.84 billion was allocated for the servicing of foreign debts.
Ministry of Works, Housing and Urban Development got the highest capital expenditure vote of N208.62 billion while the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources got N138.93 billion.
The power sector got a capital vote of N94.62 billion, just as the Federal Capital Territory Administration would spend N66.65 billion.
Health got N50.8 billion; Ministry of Niger Delta, N48 billion; Defence, N46.8 billion; and Education N40 billion.
But in the budgetary provision for recurrent expenditure, the Education sector got the highest allocation of N184.67 billion while Police formations and commands received N183.6 billion.
The Defence sector got an allocation of N176.22 billion while the Ministry of Finance is to spend N103.76 billion.
President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, in December, presented a budget proposal of N2.8705 trillion and later made adjustments in the proposal to the tune of N85 billion, thereby raising the entire budget proposal to N2.955 trillion.
